Time to examine how to make science subjects attractive

In general terms, the Leaving Certificate results for the class of 2000 are broadly in line with previous years

In general terms, the Leaving Certificate results for the class of 2000 are broadly in line with previous years. In most cases, across the 31 subjects examined, standards have remained relatively stable.

Some students, like Aodhnait Sile Ni Fhathaigh, the Co Cork girl who secured nine A1s, will perform spectacularly, and most will emerge well from what is a very searching examination.

Parents, however, often have a false notion about average results; an extremely high points score remains very unusual. This year, only one third (about 20,000) of the 60,000-odd who sat the exam secured 4 Grade Cs (55-69 per cent) or better in four or more Higher Level papers. Beneath the mass of statistics, there are some disturbing trends. The low take-up in physics and chemistry, the doubling of the failure rate for Higher Level maths and the very high failure rates in Ordinary Level history and English should be a cause of acute concern.

In relation to science and related subjects, there is little evidence that Government efforts to boost the popularity of these subjects is paying dividends. The Republic may be the highest exporter of computer software in the world but subjects like physics, chemistry and engineering are still minority options. The numbers pursuing physics and chemistry, a total of 18,000 from a Leaving Certificate class of 62,000, continues to disappoint.

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There are some practical reasons. While most schools have no difficulty in offering biology - 27,000 completed the subject in this year's Leaving Cert - experienced physics and chemistry teachers are much more difficult to recruit. To counter this, the British government makes a special extra payment to cajole some science graduates into teaching.

But there is huge resistance to any such move here. The common basic scale for every teacher in every corner of the State is an article of faith of the Irish education system. The powerful teaching unions would oppose any move which might, for example, see a physics teacher in Cork earn more than an English teacher struggling with a remedial class in a deprived area of Dublin.

The Department of Education is attempting to resolve the problem in other ways. Plans for a new science curriculum at primary level, which will help foster interest in the area, are well advanced. The various science syllabuses have been revised and updated, while the Government has invested £15 million in the modernisation of school laboratories. It has also greatly expanded in-service opportunities for science teachers.

But it will be several more years before these initiatives have a real impact on the range of subject options pursued by a Leaving Cert class.

The doubling of the failure rate in Higher Level maths might also dissuade pupils from pursuing the options that the Government and employers favour. In recent years, impressive results in Higher Level maths have tended to undermine the traditional view that this was a very difficult subject. But this year's statistics will not help; the failure rate has doubled to five per cent and the number gaining Grade C or higher has declined by 12 per cent.

The performance of students in the Ordinary Level history exam, which 25 per cent failed, will dismay many teachers in a society supposedly consumed by its own past. History teachers believe that the decline in student interest in politics, the very traditional curriculum and low literacy levels among students might help to explain this statistic. It may be that things will get worse before they get better. The high failure rate at Ordinary Level will tend to confirm the view among many students that history is a tough, time-consuming subject option with less "points potential" than options like accounting, geography and home economics. These days, with Leaving Cert students on something of a "points treadmill", history tends to lose out. It is difficult to see how the situation can be reversed in the short term.

The failure rate in English at Ordinary Level may reflect the literacy problems which have become increasingly apparent at primary level - about one child in ten leaves primary school with significant literacy problems.

But the concentration on failure rates in various subjects can give a false snapshot of the class of 2000. Most performed heroically, against the clock, in a very demanding exam.

It may also be the case that the relationship between what happens in the Leaving Cert classroom and in the wider economy is exaggerated. The exam is very highly regarded by business and by employers as a landmark of educational achievement. Most businesses find that the average Leaving Cert student has a high degree of creativity and flexibility even in disciplines that were not studied for the exam.

The Minister for Education, Dr Woods, may have a fair point when he says that everyone who completes the exam deserves commendation.